Can You Save the Baby in an Ectopic Pregnancy

The mother who risked everything to take her ectopic baby

It is a determination no expectant female parent should e'er have to brand.

Merely when Paula Cawte was told that her unborn babe was developing outside her womb doctors gave her two middle-breaking options.

She could either terminate the pregnancy, or hazard her own life to accept a baby that would probably be severely disabled - considering its birth would have to be and so premature - or stillborn.

Born survivor: Eva with her proud parents, Paula and Paul

Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against her, she risked her life and now her daughter Eva, healthy and thriving, is about to celebrate her first birthday.

Her astonishing story is even more than inspiring considering there are just 3 recorded cases of babies surviving this rare blazon of pregnancy in the United kingdom in the concluding twenty years. The chances of both mother and baby surviving were three million to 1.

Nevertheless, Miss Cawte, 38, and fiancé Paul Lounds, 43, from Gloucester, refused to surrender on their unborn child and were rewarded when she was built-in at 30 weeks, weighing 3lb 1oz.

'We had been trying for over a twelvemonth to have a baby and there was no fashion I could end when I knew she was healthy,' said Miss Cawte. 'Nosotros knew it was dangerous. The doctors said I could bleed to death if she ruptured an organ or an avenue.

Against the odds: Although she was born ten weeks premature, Eva is at present thriving

'But Paul and I agreed that equally long as I was in no immediate danger, we continue for as long as possible to give the baby a fighting chance.

'Now we can't believe we have such a beautiful, healthy and happy little girl – it'due south a miracle.'

The story of little Eva's fight for survival is remarkable. Miss Cawte, a former recruitment consultant and Mr Lounds, a database administrator, discovered they were going to accept a baby in January last year. Everything appeared normal until the xx-week scan that May when doctors discovered the ectopic pregnancy.

THE DEADLY Complexity

In normal pregnancies, a fertilised egg implants itself in the lining of the womb where it grows and develops.

But in an ectopic pregnancy, the egg implants itself in the fallopian tube – which leads from the ovary to the womb. In rarer cases it implants itself in the abdominal crenel or an ovary.

Around i in 60 to ane in eighty pregnancies are ectopic – and in the vast majority the baby cannot be saved. Oft a woman will only realise the pregnancy is ectopic at the first browse betwixt six and ten weeks.

Usually it is terminated immediately because of the risks to the mother.
If left, the growing foetus may rupture the fallopian tube or other organs which can cause severe internal bleeding. Around five women a year die from an ectopic pregnancy in the UK.

They suggested a termination merely, because the case was so unusual, they told the couple they would be allowed to cease, afterwards the 24-week legal limit if they needed more time to remember.

'We both burst into tears,' said Mr Lounds. 'Nosotros wanted lots of facts merely, because the case was and then rare, the doctors didn't have them. 'Paula was kept in hospital afterward her browse. It was an incredibly broken-hearted time and she was in intense pain at times.'

Initially, surgeons wanted to deliver at 28 weeks but extended information technology to 32 weeks so the baby's lungs could develop. Simply when doctors discovered there was not enough blood in stock – they needed half dozen pints on standby for Miss Cawte – she was transferred to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Surgeons in that location decided to deliver at xxx weeks.

She went into surgery at 11.45am on July 19 concluding year. Eva was born 45  minutes subsequently and put in the Special Care Baby unit of measurement.

'The nurse told me I had a daughter and I flare-up into tears,' said Mr Lounds. 'I went to encounter her in an incubator and she looked very tiny but was stable.'

Doctors said she had survived because the membrane of Miss Cawte's abdomen had created a sac which independent amniotic fluid to assist her lungs develop and the placenta was working.

But while Eva was in the Special Care Baby Unit, Miss Cawte was in theatre fighting for her life.

'Paula almost bled to death,' added Mr Lounds. 'She had to take eight pints of claret. I sat side by side to her and told her nosotros had a lovely girl. She squeezed my paw – she couldn't speak considering she had tubes downwards her throat. It was a very emotional moment.'

Eva was allowed out of infirmary after three months and is developing normally. 'She's cute, the most stunning looking baby and everything'south on runway,' said Miss Cawte. 'There's nothing well-nigh her that tells you she was so premature. She smiles a lot and is very content.'

Dr Lawrence Impey, consultant obstetrician at The John Radcliffe Infirmary, said: 'In terms of pregnancy surgery, this is about as risky as it gets. 1 in every 60 pregnancies is ectopic but simply ane per cent of those is intestinal. Less than ten per cent of those is avant-garde like Paula'southward.'

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Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2008476/The-mother-risked-ectopic-baby.html

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